Workiva solves one of the most tedious problems in corporate life: getting numbers to agree across dozens of reports, spreadsheets, and filings. Founded in 2008 in Ames, Iowa by Marty Vanderploeg, the company built its Wdesk platform to connect data across financial reporting, SEC filings, audit management, and regulatory compliance. When a number changes in one report, it automatically updates everywhere else — eliminating the copy-paste chaos that plagues most reporting processes.
The platform’s connected reporting approach links data across documents, spreadsheets, and presentations while maintaining a complete audit trail. Workiva handles the formatting requirements for SEC XBRL filings, SOX compliance documentation, ESG and sustainability reports, and management reporting. The company’s more recent push into ESG reporting has been particularly well-timed, as regulations like the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive force companies to produce auditable sustainability disclosures.
Workiva went public in 2014 and has grown steadily by expanding from its SEC filing roots into broader compliance and reporting use cases. The platform serves over 6,000 organizations including more than 75% of Fortune 500 companies. The company generates the majority of its revenue from subscriptions, with strong retention metrics that reflect the deeply embedded nature of its platform in customers’ reporting workflows. As regulatory requirements grow more complex and interconnected — particularly around ESG — Workiva’s connected data model becomes increasingly valuable.
